Everone else has one of these so... why not. This is the story of Adrian Corte Vasquez.
PROLOUGE The Awakening
He woke up to find himself being kicked in the sides. He was 18 then, back on crete. His name is Adrian Corte Vasquez. His family comes from a long line of corsairs. They have always lived this lifestyle and probably always will.
"Brother!! Brother wake up!!" Yelled Pablo, his brother of 10 years. "The outcasts have landed!!!! We need to get out of here!!! They are killing everybody!!"
"What?!!" Adrian sat up in anger and confusion. He quickly got dressed and grabbed his brothers arm. They ran out in the streets looking for somewhere to hide. They were both orphans, their parents were pilots for The Brotherhood, but were killed in an attack when they were young. they quickly learned how to fend for themselves, a skill that would come in handy in Adrian's future as a pilot.
They ran into the woods near their home. They could hear the gunfire in the distance. Then they saw him. Standing in front of him was an outcast. He was smirking and staring at Adrian evilly. He turned tail and ran in the opposite direction. Then he heard it. The sound horrifies him to this day. It was the sound of the outcast weapon firing. Suddenly Pablo fell to the ground. Adrian diddnt know it until he felt the weight of him dragging beneath him. Adrian turned around to see him limp. At that sight Adrian dropped to his knees and yelled his name and cried. That was the second time Adrian had ever cried in his entire life. The outcast approached him slowly, laughing as he did. But then as Adrian looked up he saw him fall to the ground. Adrian looked over and 3 corsairs ran towards him. At that point of time Adrian was scared, so he backed up into a tree. "Please.... Dont hurt me...." he pleaded.
They came nearer. "No need to fear us child.... we are your freinds.... we will protect you."
Adrian was still scared so he yelled "Prove it!!" Then one of them came forward. "I was a freind of your fathers....." He looked down. "He was a good man, a good pilot." Adrian looked up. "What was his name!!!" He yelled at him.
"Bernardo Adrian Vasquez" he said looking Adrian straight in the eye. Adrian looked at him in shock. He was telling the truth. He extended an arm out to him. "Come on.... we need to get out of here." Adrian took his hand and they ran.
Adrian woke up in a dark room. His eyes strained to see anything. Suddenly someone came and turned on the lights. Adrian was immediately blinded from the brightness.
Once Adrian could see again he looked up. It was the man who had saved his life. He approached Adrian with a tray of food.
"You are awake I see." he said placing the tray down next to him.
"I dont think I caught your name yeterday sir." said Adrian.
"Ah.... yes.... I was caught up so much in surviving there wasnt time." He extended his hand. "Name's Costello.
I am one of the Brotherhood elders. I fought with your father back when we were young." he said.
"My father....." Adrian said thinking, trying to remember his face. "What was he like?" he said "It has been so long i cant remember." Adrian said looking down.
"He was a fine young man." said Costello. "He was always quick in a firefight. Never once did i ever hear of him getting a scratch on his titan..... that is until that fateful day." He said looking away.
"What happened to him?" Adrian asked with a tear in his eye.
"He was surrounded. Two outcast bombers swooped in, and the next thing i remember was watching his scrapnel go flying through space. We tractored in his escape pod, but he was too badly injured and soon died on the hospital bed." He said sadly.
"Oh......." said Adrian. He couldnt say anything else. Millions of things were running through his mind.
"Speaking of your father....." he said walking over to a nightstand by the wall. He opened a drawer and threw Adrian a package. "He wanted you to have this when you turned 18." Adrian stared at the package for a while, wondering what it was. It was bulky, so he knew there was something big in there. Adrian opened it slowly and pulled out a peice of paper. This is what it read
"Dear son......
If you are reading this it means i never returned from my mission. I want you to continue on my legacy son. Become a corsair. Join the brotherhood. Avenge my death. Destroy all of the outcasts that you ever meet. Son this is our legacy. Protect Crete, no matter what the cost. It is our homeland, hold it close to your heart. Assuming he is still alive, which I assume he is, I have appointed Costello as your teacher. Learn from him, earn his trust, have him guide you in the ways of a corsair. I am counting you to avenge me son...."
He looked up at Costello. "You know of his request?" Adrian asked him. He nodded.
"I know of his final request. The question is... are you ready?" He asked Adrian with a smirk.
Adrian looked at the letter again and thought for a minute. Then he looked back up at him.
"Count me in" He said with a serious look on his face.
"In that case check the package again. There is something in there that you should cherish and use with pride.
Adrian turned the package and dumped out the remaining contents. Out fell a pair of aviator goggles. On the side emblazened in gold was the name "Vasquez" There was a tear in Adrian's eye. He looked back up at Costello.
"Meet me in the hangar tommorow at dawn." He said sternly. "Your training will start immediately."
The next morning Adrian met Costello in the hangar. He was with three other people.
"Adrian i would like to introduce you to Centurion Sephardi, Centurion Globalo, and Elder Juan Lucendez. They will be helping with your training." They wave and Adrian nodded back at them in reply "Since this i only a training operation we will be using the simulator."
They led Adrian into a back room in the hangar which held and dozen or so cockpit shaped simulator pods. Costello led him to one of them an helped him get in it. He then got into the one next to him. The others got into simulators with their name incsribed on them. Adrian guessed that they all had cutomized control panels or something.
"Now Adrian" Costello said a video of him popping up on the HUD. "See that lever to your right? That is the throttle. Use that to speed up and slow down your craft. The button on the side of the throttle is cruise. NEVER EVER push that when you are in a firefight except if you are about to die an you need to escape very quickly. Othewise only use it to travel far distances quickly. Now see the triangular formation of buttons next to the throttle? Those are the dock turret an undock buttons. Then there is the pull lever to your left. That is the eject lever. And finally in front of you is the joystick complete with trigger and missile firing mechanism. That one is self explanitory."
Sephardi then spoke. "We will start by flying in a simple, beginner style V formation. This will enhance speed an manuverabilty in flight. We will move into more complicated tactics and formations later." Sephardi pushed a combination of keys on his keypad and the simulators roared to life. Through his goggles Adrian saw the simulation of the planet of Crete. Complete with its magnificent skyscrapers and villages. He pressed the undock procedure button and took off from the landing pad. They exited out into space and Costello instructed them to fall into formation with him at the tip of the V. it took Adrian some time to stablilize his craft, but Sephardi told him that that was normal for a trainee like him.
They went through a few more training simulations until it was time for Adrian to learn how to dogfight. They taught taught what each of the missile command buttons were for, and how to dodge and attack. Adrian took out the fighters with ease. A few hours later they were complimenting him on how well he had learned in such a short period of time. But then it happened.
"Warning..... Warning" Blasted through the speakers in the hangar. "Outcast fighters spotted in Gamma. We repeat. Outcast fighters spotted in Gamma. Scramble fighters. I repeat. Scramble fighters."
"Well that is our que." Said Sephardi. "Lets see how much your training applies in true combat. Normally we would exempt your from a real life scenario this early in your training, but seeng how well your training has gone, we might need you out there."
They led him out into the hangar and helped him slide into one of the titans they had there. Adrian closed the cockpit window and slid his hands across the controls. The felt soft, kind of like leather. They gave him the signal to take off and he slipped his fathers goggles over his head and gave them a thumbs up. They then took of into the afternoon sky of crete.
We fought valiantly in defense OF gamma. There was 6 of them and 5 of us, yet we finished them off quickly. I remember clearly taking out one of them by myself.
He was a fast fighter, but I seemed to manage. I practically flew circles around him. I fired about a dozen or so times and lowered his sheilds, then dropped 2 nukes on him. i then spun around and focused my missile turrets on him.
"This is for Padre." i said into the intercom. I fired my misses and hit him square in the nose. He flew off course and exploded and i tractored in his pod. I knew i would be glorious if i came back with a prisoner.
Lucendez and the others took out one each then we ganged up on the last one. I remember how fast he hit his thrusters and took off into the distance. At that Lucendez started laughing.
"Coward....." said Costello as we all laughed and watched him fly off into the distance. We knew he was so scared so we diddnt even bother to make chase.
We returned to Crete and landed in the hangar. I got out of my Titan and I was very excited. We all came together in the middle of the hangar and Sephardi patted me on the back.
"Good one kid.... I never expected you to exel this quickly." he laughed. "You might even surpass Globalo here."
"Yeah right......" Said Globalo "Over my dead body." He laughed. We all laughed. It was a sweet victory that day.
The months passed by and Adrian was eventually promoted to centurion. A few minor skirmishes with bounty hunters and Outcasts happened but nothing of importance. It was normal life on Crete for Adrian and the other corsairs. Then it happened.
The sun was shining over Crete. Adrian woke and stretched. He looked at his calandar. Today was circled. Today was the day they were going to raid Alpha. Sephardi even gave him control of his own wing. He strapped on his fathers helmet and headed to the hangar. In the hangar Sephardi and Globalo were waiting for him.
Hurry up! yelled Globalo. 5 more minutes and we would have left without you!
He rushed to his praetorian and strapped in. He was in charge of a bomber wing during this flight. He was more excited than he had ever been in his entire life. His job was to distract and destroy the outcast dreadnoughts so that the fighter wings could do their job. An important task for someone of his rank, but he would do it. He was a centurion after all. He had his honor, and that was something he didnt want to lose.
He received the signal to launch and undocked from Crete. His squadron followed him into the darkness of space. He followed alpha squadron, which was commanded by Sephardi, towards the Omicron Theta jump hole. As they neared the hole all of a sudden the entire bomber group and fighter group surround Adrian.
What the hell? yelled Adrian. What is going on?
Ill tell you flat out Said Sephardi. We have taken you out here to execute you
Execute me?! Why?! Yelled Adrian, confused.
I guess that it is time to explain to you your family history. You father was a corsair, yes. But he wasnt killed by Outcasts. He was killed by us. Why? Because against orders of the council, he fell in love with an outcast. You have outcast blood in you Adrian and we cant let your corrupt bloodline go on
With that said Sephardi opened fire on Adrian and all of the others did the same. Adrian hit his cruise engines and rocketed towards the Theta jumphole. He managed to fly through it before they could damage his sheilds. Once he was in theta.. He headed towards the Freeport, which was the only place he could hide. He docked and immediately jumped out of the Praetorian and ran down the halls of the Freeport. He needed to find somewhere to hide, and fast. He jumped into one of the air ducts and scrambled across it and waited.
Adrian could hear the other praetorians land in the hangar below. They stepped out and searched his bomber. When they didnt find him there they split up and searched the compound. Adrian couldnt tell how long he sat in the air duct waiting but it seemed like hours. Finally they came back to the hangar, and conversed. Not finding him they decided to leave back to Crete. Adrian sat there for a little while and thought. They said that he had outcast blood in him. Maybe the outcasts will help him. It was decided. He would head to alpha and give himself in to the outcasts. If he was luck they would take him in.
He jumped down from the air duct and headed to his praetorian. He ripped his transponder out of the cockpit and tossed it to the ground of the hangar. He then started up his vessel and headed for Omicron Alpha.
Adrian entered Alpha without any problems. He approached the planet carefully. He didn’t have a corsair transponder, but he was flying a Praetorian, which alone was a good reason to cause alarm. He approached the docking rings and hailed the comms tower.
“This is Adrian Corte Vasquez. Please do not be alarmed. I am a defector of the corsairs. They have betrayed me and my familia. I seek refuge with the outcasts. I can provide intelligence about Corsair technology. Please help me.” He said. Adrian waited for a reply. A few moments later it came.
“We are scanning your vessel, please wait.” A few moments later another comms came. “Scans show that your vessel is unarmed and poses no threat. We are sending escorts to carry you to the planet. You will be interrogated and if your intents are acceptable, we will deal with matters further. Do you agree to these terms?”
“Yes” Came Adrian’s reply. “I have nothing to hide.”
Two Falcata’s undocked from the planet and approached him. They moved to either side of him and latched their tractor beams onto Adrian’s vessel and led him to the surface. When they landed Adrian stayed in his craft until he was told that we was allowed to. He climbed out of his craft and they led him down the hall to a room. He sat down in a chair and the outcasts who escorted him guarded the door. About 10 minutes later a man walked into the room and sat across the table from him. The guards closed the door behind him.
“Greetings. My name is Lt. Colonel Alehandro Martinez of the Shadow Outcast Brigade. Do you know why I am here?” He asked
“Yes I do sir” replied Adrian. “You are here to interrogate the reasons I am here. Question me as you wish. I have nothing to hide from you. The corsairs betrayed me. I want to see to it that every single one that betrayed me dies a terrible death. I pose no threat to you”
Martinez only nodded. “Don’t worry, I do not fear. You are unarmed, and it is 3 against 1 if you try anything… Now… I want you to start by telling me why you are here.”
Adrian nodded. “I was once a member of the Corsair Brotherhood. They took me in when I was young and Crete was invaded by outcasts. They trained me and I grew and eventually became a Centurions… a lieutenant of sorts. But then just yesterday… we went on a mission, but it was a setup… they turned on me and told me that I had dirty blood.. They told me that they were the ones that killed my family… and that my mother was in-fact.. An outcast. Then they attempted to kill me. I fled to the nearest Freeport and hid. They landed and searched for me… but I outsmarted them and they gave up and left. I couldn’t return there… and I had nowhere to go… so I decided to come to you and see if I could seek refuge.”
Martinez sat there and tapped his fingers together… “You say your mother was an outcast… do you remember her name?”
Adrian nodded. “Her name was Almera. She was killed when I was very young.”
Martinez nodded his head. “Yes I have heard of her… she disappeared about 17 years ago. It is sad that the corsairs killed her. I wish we could have given her a proper burial.” Adrian looked down for a moment.. Then looked back up at Martinez.
“You said that you could provide us with corsair intelligence?” asked Martinez
“Yes… the ship I escaped with has schematics of many corsair ships and there are weapons in the hold. I was sure to unmount them before I came but I kept them in the cargo hold knowing that you could study them and use the info to make weapons to counter them. Also I know the names and locations of many key Corsair pilots and bases.”
Martinez nodded. This information pleased him. “That information would be very helpful indeed.” He stood up and offered his hand to Adrian. Adrian shook his hand.
“Welcome to the Shadow Outcast Brigade Mr. Vasquez… I hope you can serve us well.”
Ayame Matsumado landed her transport in the hangar bay of Ainu station. She had just returned from a cardamine run from Malta, and was glad to be home. Once she landed, a group of droids came over and started removing the cargo pods from her vessel and moving them to the storage area. She opened one of the boxes and took her share of the addictive drug, then headed for her room.
She sat down on her bed and layed back for a few minutes. Then she spoke.
“Computer, Show all messages.” A hologram appeared next to her bed stand and an outcast appeared.
“Greetings allies and friends of the outcasts. You are all invited to the 100th annual cardamine festival this weekend. There will be a formal party on Friday evening so wear your best clothes. Hope to see you all there.” With that, the hologram disappeared.
Ayame smiled. She loved events, and she was excited to get a chance to attend one. There weren’t many events that she could attend now that she was a Chrysanthemum. She stood up and walked over to her closet and stepped inside. It was a walk in closet, and she had a collection of uniforms and dresses for special occasions. She chose a light blue dress for the party and smiled. This was going to be fun.
The entire week leading up to the festival Ayame was exited. She went on a few missions with the other girls, but mostly she was left on guard duty. It was very uneventful. Most navy patrols were smart enough to stay away from Ainu’s powerful guns. Finally the weekend came and Ayame went to the hangar to fire up her catamaran. She lifted off and formed up with the others that were going to the festival. They arrived in Alpha and landed on one of the landing pads on Malta’s surface. She stepped out of her vessel and stared across the endless fields of cardamine that seemed like they went of forever. Her mouth watered. She was starting to get addicted to the stuff, and she craved it, but she knew there would be a chance to get some later. The festival itself was sprawled on 3 adjacent landing pads, and inside of a few buildings in the area. She wandered through the streets, visiting an occasional shop along the way. There were stations selling handheld weapons, weapons for fighter craft, there were even shops selling fighters themselves. She eyed a transport train in the corner of one of the hangars. She walked over and examined it.
“This would be perfect for carrying cardamine to Ainu.” She said. “It would carry a lot more cargo than the one that I have now, that’s for sure.” She examined the price tag. She smiled. She could afford that. She decided she would come later and retrieve it. Ayame walked over to the dealer and payed him for the ship, and told him that she would be back for it later in the evening.
Ayame left the shop and continued down the street. She occasionally stopped inside to look at some of the merchandise in some of the stores, particularly the weaponry. Most of the starship weaponry was incompatible with her ship, but a few of the handheld weaponry intrigued her. She held one of the semi automatic pistols in her hand. Laser fired, non projectile, reliable power source.
“Just the kind of weapon I need.” She thought to herself. She walked up to the counter and placed it down. The dealer smiled.
“Greetings my lady. Did you find everything okay?” he asked.
“Yes I did” she said smiling.
“Would you like to test your choice before you buy?” he asked.
“That would be very nice.” Said Ayame.
He led her to a room in the back of the shop and she sat down on a stool. She took aim at the targets across the room and fired the weapon. One by one the targets fell. She smiled and stood up.
“Ill take it!” she said
The dealer smiled and rang up the price. She paid for the gun and also bought a holster for it. She strapped it onto her belt and continued down the street.
Ayame walked back to her hotel room on Alpha, making sure she walked near the luscious Cardamine fields. She loved the smell of Cardamine, and especially the way it smelled when it was freshly grown. The stuff she got back on Ainu was vacuum packed and wasnt fresh. She had to remind herself to bring some fresh stuff back with her to share with her sisters back home.
She walked into her hotel and climbed the flight of stairs to the second floor, then walked down the hall to her room. She opened the door and set her bag down on the table and shut the door. She laid back on the bed for a moment, resting her muscles from the long walk. She then stood up and opened her wardrobe. She pulled out the dress she had chosen and walked up to the full length mirror. She held the dress up to her, and satisfied with how it looked, she then proceeded to strip off her heavy pilots armor and put the dress on. She then walked into the bathroom and proceeded to wash and brush her hair and finished with putting on her makeup. She was just about finished when she heard a banging on the door.
Ayame its Saigo. Hurry up or you are going to be late for the opener! yelled Saigo Watanabe from outside the door.
Im coming !! Give me a second! Ayame said back and she straightened her hair a little then grabbed her room key and stepped out the door. She looked at Saigo and smiled. Saigo was wearing a blue and white dress that extended to her ankles. Saigo grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hallway.
Ayame wrenched free of Saigos grip and laughed. Why are you in such a hurry? She asked.
There is a certain someone I want you to meet. Saigo said with a giggle. If you know what I mean she added.
Oh you didnt Said Ayame blushing
Oh come on. What could it hurt? Just because you are a Chrysanthemum doesnt mean you cant have a little fun with the men. We arent lesbian you know. Well most of us arent. Ayame laughed and followed her outside and down the street to a red brick building. There were a couple of outcasts guarding the entrance. Saigo walked up to the man and showed her credentials and the men let her and Ayame into the building.
There were many people at the dance. She could see and here a Maltese band in the corner playing music, and 50 % of the people in the room were dancing to it. The other 50 % were either seated at tables thought the room, or gambling at the poker tables in the back. Ayame stood in awe of so many people at one place, that she didnt even notice that Saigo had left her there alone. When she finally realized she looked around and saw Saigo walking towards here with an outcast male, roughly her size with brown hair. When Ayame realized this was the Certain Someone that Saigo had mentioned earlier, Ayame blushed red and looked away quickly.
Aww dont be shy. Said Saigo with a giggle. Ayame , this is Adrian. Adrian , this is Ayame, the girl I talked to you about earlier. I think you two will get along very well. You two have very much in common. Anyways, the other sisters are waiting for me. Ill leave you two in each others care. She giggled and walked off towards the tables in the back before Ayame could protest.
The two of them stood there in silence until Adrian spoke up.
So Saigo tells me that you are an avid racer. said Adrian. Ayames eyes widened. She was a VERY avid racer. Racing was her hobby, and whenever she could get the chance to, she would sneak off and participate in one of the many racing circuits that Sirius had to offer. So what do you fly?
I uhh usually fly a Starblazer. she said still not making eye contact. I cant afford much else.
Really. Im quite the racer myself. Back in the hangar I have my custom Arrow. Ayames eyes grew large and looked up at him.
YYou have an arrow? she asked almost drooling. She could never afford an arrow with her personal funds. The funds she received from pirating was more than enough to buy them but most of that went into the faction, and very little of it was given to her to keep.
Ya I do. Would you like to see it? asked Adrian.
You bet I do Thought Ayame, but she was too scared to say it out loud. Finally she could manage a small Maybe later.. I guess. Adrian smiled. Just then the band started to play slow songs. Adrian took her hand and she looked up at him.
Can I have this dance? Asked Adrian. Ayame blushed and let him lead her to the dance floor. After dancing for a few minutes close to Adrian, her shyness seemed to go away. She was starting to like him, and what was this she felt, maybe something more? Maybe Saigo was right in introducing them. Just maybe. She looked up at Adrian and smiled and he smiled back, and at that moment she could tell that it was right.
